Would-be Seattle terrorist avoids life sentence with guilty plea

LEVI PULKKINE, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:35 am, Thursday, December 8, 2011

The apartment building that is the home of man arrested in a terrorist plot a day earlier is seen Thursday, June 23, 2011, in SeaTac, Wash., just south of Seattle. Two men have been arrested in a plot to use machine guns and grenades in an attack on the military recruiting station there that also houses a daycare, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, of Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., of Los Angeles, were arrested Wednesday night.

Photo: AP

The apartment building that is the home of man arrested in a...

Col. Anthony Wright speaks with media members outside a federal building that houses the Seattle Military Processing Center Thursday, June 23, 2011, in Seattle. Two men have been arrested in a plot to use machine guns and grenades in an attack on the military recruiting station there that also houses a daycare, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday. Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, of Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., of Los Angeles, were arrested Wednesday night.

Photo: AP

Col. Anthony Wright speaks with media members outside a federal...

This is a 2004 photo provided by the Washington State Department of Corrections showing Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, also known as Joseph Anthony Davis, of Seattle. Davis, and Walli Mujahidh, also known as Frederick Domingue Jr., of Los Angeles, were arrested Wednesday night, June 22, 2011. They men were arrested at a warehouse garage when they arrived to pick up machine guns to use in an alleged terror plot.

Photo: AP

This is a 2004 photo provided by the Washington State Department of...

One of two men accused in a plot to attack a South Seattle military installation has pleaded guilty to terrorism charges following a plea agreement expected to allow him to avoid a life sentence.

Arrested along with the purported mastermind of the plot on June 22, Walli Mujahidh pleaded guilty Thursday morning in U.S. District Court at Seattle.

Mujahidh, a Los Angeles man born Frederick Domingue, Jr., and SeaTac resident Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif had previously been indicted on nine counts related to the purported plot against the Military Entrance Processing Station on East Marginal Way South, an administrative center used by new recruits and Department of Defense employees in the area.

Charged June 23 with planning a suicidal attack against a East Marginal Way South recruit processing center, Abdul-Latif – born Joseph Anthony Davis – and Mujahidh, 32, have been jailed since. Both men faced life sentences if convicted as charged; Mujahidh will likely be sentenced to 27 to 32 years in prison due to the plea agreement.

"This defendant tried to carry out a plot to kill American servicemen and women, and other innocent citizens who happened to be at the federal facility on the day of the planned attack," U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jenny A. Durkan said in a statement. Durkan went on to thank law officers involved in the investigation and Muslim leaders who worked with them.

Defense attorney Michele Shaw told the Associated Press Mujahidh has a long history of "chronic, relentless" mental illness, including 12 stays at psychiatric hospitals. He has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder with bipolar tendencies.

"Walli is very ashamed of his behavior and has wanted to accept responsibility for his participation," Shaw said. "He had a fundamental misunderstanding of Islam."

Federal prosecutors claim Abdul-Latif was arming himself, Mujahidh and a man who later went to police for an attack against a Department of Defense induction center. Authorities say they learned of the plan after the man asked by Abdul-Latif to join in the attack went to authorities.

In court documents, Abdul-Latif is described as a man who idolized Osama bin Laden and was angry about American military activities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen. Federal prosecutors claim to have Abdul-Latif on tape praising terrorists, complaining about American abuses overseas and preparing to attack the two-story building.

Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh are charged with planning to storm the center with automatic rifles and grenades in order to kill recruits and Department of Defense employees working there. Prosecutors claim the plot was thwarted in the 11th hour after another Muslim man approached by Abdul-Latif in late May went to Seattle police, then acted as an informant.

On Thursday, a Seattle grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against the men.

Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh were both indicted on charges of conspiracy to murder officers and agents of the United States, and conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction

Abdul-Latif is additionally charged with solicitation of a crime of violence, two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence. Mujahidh, whose birth name was Frederick Domingue, Jr., is also charged with possession of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm.

In court documents, investigators claim Abdul-Latif planned to attack the facility as a response to American military action abroad. During the recorded conversations, Abdul-Latif allegedly expounded on his desire to kill Americans and said he admired bin Laden.

“Abdul-Latif said that ‘jihad’ in America should be a ‘physical jihad,’ and not just ‘media jihad,’ expressing his view that it was necessary to take action rather than just talk,” an FBI agent told the court. “Abdul-Latif referred to the 2009 Fort Hood massacre, when a single gunman killed 13 people ... (and) said that if one person could kill so many people, three attackers could kill many more.”

Searching Abdul-Latif’s home at the Hunt Club Apartments complex, investigators seized what were described as “motivational documents” and “attack planning documents.” Neither is described in detail.

Three months after their arrests, a Lynwood man accused of attempting to run two Marines off the road in North Seattle was charged in state court. Prosecutors in the case contend Michael D. McCright had been in contact with Abdul-Latif.

Pleading guilty, Mujahidh admitted to suggesting that he and the other men go to the South Seattle station with machine guns and grenades and killing everyone there. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder officers and agents of the United States, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Mujahidh is scheduled to be sentenced April 16 by U.S. District Court Judge James L. Robart. Both remain jailed.